Review: Sierra Nevada Beer Camp West Coast Double IPA (Unreleased)

Who likes beer fests? Sierra Nevada’s got a huge one coming up this summer, a seven-city traveling beer festival that’s called Beer Camp Across America and which will feature more than 700 total breweries in total.

As an “invitation” to the festival, we received this 24 oz. monster bottle of Sierra’s Beer Camp West Coast Double IPA. You can’t buy it in stores, but presumably you’ll be able to try it at the event if you sojourn to an installment near you. (See schedule below.)

Beer Camp is a Double IPA, thick and syrupy and overall a very “big” beer. However, the hops in this brew are dialed back to let the malt shine through. While it’s got plenty of bitterness, particularly on the finish, it’s the almost marmalade-like sweetness up front that makes this brew so curious — and so memorable. Shipped out in 24 oz. bottles, I didn’t make it through half before turning to something a little less palate-busting. But for that first round with Brew Camp, I was taken to some interesting places… a campfire, a carnival, a backyard BBQ. When you try it, maybe you’ll go to those locales too… before moving on to the next table for a taste of something else.